MAG Launches Exclusively on the PlayStation 3

Zipper Interactive's Massive
First-Person Shooter Delivers Revolutionary Online Battles with a Squad-Based
Command System and a Persistent World

Sony Computer Entertainment America
(SCEA) announced today the North American launch of MAG exclusively for the
PlayStation 3. Developed by Zipper Interactive—creator of the best-selling SOCOM
series and one of the first studios to bring the PlayStation 2 online with SOCOM:
U.S. Navy SEALs—MAG features unprecedented online action on a scale never before
devised. A first-person, online-only shooter, MAG lets players experience
battles with up to 256 real people across a global battlefield, and employs a
sophisticated command structure that aligns players into squads of eight to work
together in order to progress through a persistent world known as the "Shadow
War."

"By introducing a scale never before
seen on a console, MAG is expected to revolutionize the shooter genre and create
entirely new, large team-based strategic gameplay," said Scott A. Steinberg,
Vice President, Product Marketing, SCEA. "Only with PS3's technological
advancements, such as the SPUs and Blu-ray™ Disc player, as well as new
proprietary dedicated server architecture, can MAG deliver such revolutionary
large-scale console gaming at 30 frames-per-second with no lag."

MAG is set in 2025 when the world's
nations are supposedly at peace, but under the surface a war rages. This "Shadow
War" is the secret conflict fought between Private Military Corporations (PMCs)
vying for dominance across a global battlefield. As the private military
industry starts to flourish, it is dominated mainly by three companies: Valor
based in Alaska, Raven headquartered in Vienna, and S.V.E.R. based out of Grozny.
It is with selecting an allegiance to one of these three PMCs that the player
enters the world of MAG.

MAG's PMCs are distinct in their own
history, personality, and style, including unique soundtracks, user interfaces,
character aesthetics, and geographical regions – each PMC has its own "home
base" map for each gametype within MAG and is effectively camouflaged within
that area. Players choose a character in one of the PMCs and begin to fight for
that PMC's control of the Shadow War. Each battle victory or loss contributes to
the PMC's world standing by gaining or losing contracts, and moving them to the
offensive or pulling them back to the defensive. When a PMC earns a contract, a
variety of in-game rewards ranging from experience bonuses to upgraded gear,
weapons, and vehicles are bestowed upon all players of that particular PMC.

Using MAG's experience point (XP)
system, which is vital to progressing players' characters, players can unlock
new items in the skill tree, further specializing themselves on the battlefield.
Through incentives of bonus experience points, players are motivated to follow
the chain of command and work together to accomplish objectives and advance
their PMC within the Shadow War.

After gaining enough experience
points to reach level 15, players become eligible for the squad leader position.
By gaining leadership points through completing objectives as a squad leader,
players climb their way up the chain of command to reach the next levels of
leadership: platoon leader of a 32-person platoon, and ultimately the "Officer
in Charge" (OIC) of a 128-person army. Experienced players who choose to become
a leader on the battlefield are able to communicate with their squad or platoon
to assign objectives, call in airstrikes, and execute advanced command abilities
that benefit the team. In addition to giving orders via the fragmentary order (FRAGO)
system and over voice chat, leadership roles have their own set of abilities and
enhancements they provide to nearby squadmates. While Squad Leaders focus on the
tactics of the eight-man squad, Platoon Leaders coordinate the four squads under
their command, and the OIC coordinates the four platoons — all while they are
still boots on the ground, running and fighting with the rest of the operatives.
All of this coordination is supported through built-in voice communications
channels and directive game mechanics.

MAG's advanced matchmaking system
groups players into squads, platoons, and armies by taking into account each
player's geographic region, leadership standing, and the specialization of that
player's character. MAG features deep levels of character customization,
including aesthetic options of different head and voice types, as well as more
functional choices of gear and weaponry. Rather than using a traditional class
system, MAG focuses on character loadouts and takes players through a robust
skill tree, whereby they can spend earned experience points to unlock new
weapons, equipment, and inherent skills. The equipment and skills that players
purchase will determine their specialty as a sniper, commando, direct action,
field support, or rapid assault operative.

Experience points are also used to
progress players through MAG's different gametypes. Before players can reach the
full 256-player Domination battle, they must progress through the 64-player
Suppression and Sabotage maps, followed by the 128-player Acquisition battles.
Suppression missions, which do not impact the Shadow War, are PMC practice
exercises with the objective to maximize casualties on the opposing force.
Players also have the option of going through offline training missions to gain
skills and experience points before leveling up to the Sabotage, Acquisition,
and Domination gametypes that affect the Shadow War.

The 64-player Sabotage missions are
the simplest game types in the Shadow War. The objective of the missions is for
attackers to secure a pair of satellite uplinks. Once both are simultaneously
held, a final objective will be activated which attackers must then demolish.
The 128-player Acquisition missions involve two platoons of attackers trying to
steal prototype transports. Defenders must stop them, destroying escaping
transports if necessary. Should any two vehicles escape, regardless of which
platoon takes them, the attackers are victorious. Finally, 256-player Domination
missions require attackers to destroy the defender's fuel facilities. Attackers
must secure two subsequent pairs of burn off and cooling towers, destroying one
pair to activate the next. When all towers are destroyed, securing and holding
the final control panels causes progressive damage to the facility.